Tim Parry
Under the new United States Post Office plan announced on February 6, catalogs and other forms of mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays. Direct-to-customer merchants who mail catalogs told Multichannel Merchant they are fine with the United States Postal Service’s 5-day delivery plan, which is scheduled to go into effect the week of Aug. 5.
Amazon.com’s net sales increased 27% to $61.09 billion for the year ending Dec. 31, compared with $48.08 billion in 2011. Excluding the $854 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales grew 29% compared with 2011.
According to MCM Outlook 2012-13, 56% of respondents said they felt the United States Postal Service is a viable alternative to UPS and FedEx. Here’s what industry experts from Shipware, Endicia and LJM Consultants have to say about the pros – and cons – of USPS vs. FedEx and UPS.
Vendors and suppliers to bricks and mortar retailers saw the NRF Annual Convention & EXPO in New York, which was attended by more than 27,000 people last week, as a golden opportunity to get 2013 off on the right foot.
Speaking with Multichannel Merchant during an off-site event held in conjunction with the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York, president and CEO Terry Lundgren made it clear Macy’s will roll ship-from-store out to all its 800+ department stores. Here’s why ship-from-store helps Macy’s compete with Amazon, and helps its bottom line.
Macy’s president and CEO Terry Lundgren says he doesn’t know when it will happen or how. But ultimately, he believes every consumer – and ecommerce merchant – will have to pay an online sales tax.
This week, there are more up-and-down results coming in from crosschannel retailers. And two reports indicate spending overall was down in December.
If a customer buys a qualifying item at a Target store and then finds the identical item for less in the following week’s Target circular or within seven days on Target.com, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Bestbuy.com or Toysrus.com or in a local competitor’s printed ad, Target will match the price.
Delia’s CEO Walter Killough has agreed to step down on April 1, four months before his contract is set to expire. The company has begun a search for a new CEO, and Killough may agree to continue to serve as CEO of Delia’s for a limited period of time after April 1, according to a press release.
Old-school catalogers can learn a few lessons from an ecommerce pure-play’s annual holiday-season venture into print. Here are three key takeaways from this blog post about online photo printing and photo products seller Snapfish’s holiday catalog, written by Bill LaPierre for Datamann’s blog.